A combination of a family event (sister having some "minor" surgery, it's only minor if it's not happening to you) and Christmas meant I didn't get to skate at all last week. I've got some extra kids this week as sister recoups, but the local rink has shifted their public skate times around for the holidays and has a 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. session I should be able to hit a couple of times.
Before I get to the small hockey stuff, I've got a life thing that tangentially relates. I'm not doing an specific New Year's Resolutions, but I did read something the other day that really hit home. "If a stranger read a log of how you spend your time, would they be able to tell what your goals are?" There's some family and career stuff that's more important, but once you get past that, hockey is my most important goal right now. Is it showing in how I spend my time?
OK, that said, I've still been keeping an eye on gear. I got a sweet used hockey bag for Christmas from my sister, easy big enough to hold all my gear, so that's off the list now. I was in Anaheim for some other reasons so I stopped by Hockey Giant to look at some stuff.
I wanted to see how the SherWood sticks felt in my hands. It's hard to get a read on these things without experience, but I think a wood stick will be fine for me. I'm marking down expensive composite sticks as "for advanced players and enthusiasts who overthink the difference" rather than something important for me to worry about (unlike skates, which definitely seem to matter).
I like Hockey Giant, but their policy of not putting price tags on things is annoying. If you're lucky, there will be a sign somewhere in the vicinity that lists all the prices for a specific type of gear. Sometimes that sign isn't there, or at least I never found it.
I did pick up two things: a cheap pair of hockey socks and some shin guard tape. Hockey socks are funny to me because it's a great example of how much I didn't know about the game I've watched for 25 years. I never really thought about what hockey players wear on their legs, I always assumed it was some kind of pants. But it's really shorts (called ice pants) and these extremely long socks that start at your ankle (don't actually go into the skate) and go up past your thigh.
Anyways, I wanted them because I wanted to be able to start wearing my shin pads to skating. I banged my knee pretty good last class. I'm actually looking pretty much like a hockey player all geared up now. All I'm missing are the ice pants.
I should be finishing off my gear set in the next couple of weeks. I need to have it all by Jan. 18 anyway when the Anaheim Ducks Adult Learn To Play sessions start. I went through and made a cart at Ice Warehouse for everything left that I need, just to see how much it would set me back. Hockey pants, one wood stick, stick tape, a neck guard, mouth guard, jock and a couple of pucks would set me back just a smidge under $100. Not too shabby.
No comments:
Post a Comment